On Basilisk Station: Honor Harrington, Book 1

Having made a superior look a fool, Honor Harrington has been exiled to Basilisk Station in disgrace and set up for ruin. Her demoralized crew blames her for their ship's humiliating posting to an out-of-the-way picket station. The aborigines of the system's only habitable planet are smoking homicide-inducing hallucinogens.

The Shadow of Saganami

The Star Kingdom has a new generation of officers! And this elite group hand-picked and trained by Honor Harrington herself is going to be needed immediately, as their first assignment turns out to be more dangerous than anyone expected. What was supposed to be a quiet outpost, far from the blazing conflict between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the People's Republic of Haven has actually been targeted by an unholy alliance between the slaveholders of Manpower.

The Hyperspace Trap

A year after the Commonwealth won the war with the Theocracy, the interstellar cruise liner Supreme is on its maiden voyage, carrying a host of aristocrats thrilled to be sharing in a wondrous adventure among the stars. Then a collision with a pirate ship leaves the cruiser powerless and becalmed in hyperspace. And they’re not alone. Now, the mysterious force that’s living on this floating graveyard is coming for Supreme’s crew and passengers. As madness starts to tear at their minds, they must fight to survive in a strange alien realm.

Steel World: Undying Mercenaries, Book 1

In the twentieth century Earth sent probes, transmissions and welcoming messages to the stars. Unfortunately, someone noticed. The Galactics arrived with their battle fleet in 2052. Rather than being exterminated under a barrage of hell-burners, Earth joined their vast Empire. Swearing allegiance to our distant alien overlords wasn't the only requirement for survival. We also had to have something of value to trade, something that neighboring planets would pay their hard-earned credits to buy.

Columbus Day: Expeditionary Force, Book 1

The Ruhar hit us on Columbus Day. There we were, innocently drifting along the cosmos on our little blue marble, like the Native Americans in 1492. Over the horizon came ships of a technologically advanced, aggressive culture, and BAM! There went the good old days, when humans got killed only by each other. So, Columbus Day. It fits. When the morning sky twinkled again, this time with Kristang starships jumping in to hammer the Ruhar, we thought we were saved.

Off Armageddon Reef : Safehold Series, Book 1

When Earth herself lay under siege by an enemy humankind could not defeat, mankind undertook one last throw of the dice: Operation Ark. Earth's final colonizing expedition was meant to build a new civilization, on a planet so distant even the Gbaba might never find it, and without the high-tech infrastructure whose emissions might betray its location.

The Terran Privateer: The Duchy of Terra, Book 1

Earth is conquered. Sol is lost. One ship is tasked to free them. One Captain to save them all. When an alien armada destroys the United Earth Space Force and takes control of the human homeworld, newly reinstated Captain Annette Bond must take her experimental hyperspace cruiser Tornado into exile as Terra's only interstellar privateer. She has inferior technology, crude maps, and no concept of her enemy, but the seedy underbelly of galactic society welcomes her so long as she has prizes to sell and money to spend.

Crown of Slaves

The Star Kingdom's ally Erewhon is growing increasingly restive in the alliance because the new High Ridge regime ignores its needs. Add to that the longstanding problem of a slave labor planet controlled by hostile Mesans in Erewhon's stellar back yard, a problem which High Ridge also ignores.

Aurora: CV-01: Frontiers Saga, Book 1

world recovering from a devastating plague. A brutal enemy threatening invasion. A young man seeking to escape the shadow of his father. A ship manned by a crew of fresh academy graduates. A top-secret experimental propulsion system. A questionable alliance with a mysterious green-eyed woman. What destiny has in store for the crew of the UES
Aurora is far greater than any of them could ever imagine. And this is only the beginning....

Planetfall: A Story of the Dark: Alexis Carew, Book 101

Denholm Carew enjoys a life most would envy. Scion of a wealthy family on New London, he can have almost anything he wants. But what he wants more than anything is the freedom to make his own way and build his own legacy to pass down to his children. Together with his wife, Lynelle, he sells everything to buy shares in a colonial company and settle the newly discovered world of Dalthus IV.

Ark Royal

Seventy years ago, the interstellar supercarrier Ark Royal was the pride of the Royal Navy. But now, her weapons are outdated and her solid-state armour nothing more than a burden on her colossal hull. She floats in permanent orbit near Earth, a dumping ground for the officers and crew the Royal Navy wishes to keep out of the public eye. But when a deadly alien threat appears, the modern starships built by humanity are no match for the powerful alien weapons.

Koban, Book 1

We colonized 700 planets. Humankind enjoyed the benefits of expansion room and the end of wars. We even disbanded our military. Then the Krall found us. The Krall have used thousands of years of combat to select the genes of the strongest and fastest warriors. They are a species determined to dominate the entire galaxy, through destruction and annihilation of every opponent.

Koban is an uninhabited high-gravity planet with impossibly fast savage animals, which employ organic superconducting nerves. This deadly world is where the Krall tested humans for war capability.

The Oncoming Storm: Angel in the Whirlwind, Book 1

In the year 2420, war looms between the galaxy's two most powerful empires: the tyrannical Theocracy and the protectionist Commonwealth. Caught in the middle sits the occupied outpost system Cadiz, where young officer and aristocrat Katherine "Kat" Falcone finds herself prematurely promoted at the behest of her powerful father. Against her own wishes, Kat is sent to command the Commonwealth navy's newest warship, Lightning.

Space Carrier Avalon

Avalon was the flagship of the Castle Federation in the last war, now 20 years past. The first of the deep space carriers, no other warship in the fleet holds as many honors or has recorded as many kills. No other warship in the fleet is as old. Accepting the inevitable, the Federation Space Navy has decided to refit her and send her on a tour of the frontier, showing the flag to their allies and enemies as a reminder of her glory - and then decommission her for good.

Hard Duty: Merkiaari Wars, 1

Humanity's last encounter with aliens saw 16.2 billion people killed in a war with the Merkiaari that had spanned decades. Two hundred years later, the Alliance is cautiously exploring beyond its borders again, but the survey corp is considered a mere gesture by some. General Burgton of the 501st Infantry Regiment believes a lack of expansion is leading the Alliance into stagnation. So when one small ship discovers a new alien race, it should be an easy decision to make contact, but what if the aliens are like the Merkiaari?

Omega Rising

Jason Burke was a man hiding from himself in a small cabin high in the American Rocky Mountains when his simple, quiet life was shattered one night by what he first assumed was an aviation mishap. But when he investigates the crash, what he finds will yank him out of his self-imposed exile and thrust him into a world he could have never imagined.

Xenos: Warhammer 40,000: Eisenhorn, Book 1

The Inquisition moves amongst mankind like an avenging shadow, striking down the enemies of humanity with uncompromising ruthlessness. When he finally corners an old foe, Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn is drawn into a sinister conspiracy. As events unfold and he gathers allies - and enemies - Eisenhorn faces a vast interstellar cabal and the dark power of daemons, all racing to recover an arcane text of abominable power: an ancient tome known as the Necroteuch.

New Frontiers: The Expansion Wars Trilogy, Book 1

The Phage War had been a devastating conflict for the Terran Confederacy. Even with the destruction of their terrifying, implacable foe, humanity is still reeling. Political alliances are crumbling, and their mighty fleet is in tatters. There is nothing to celebrate, even after such a complete victory. They soon learn that there are other stellar neighbors - and they've been watching the conflict with great interest. One species comes with an offer of friendship and alliance, but humanity is weary and distrustful.

Publisher's Summary

Peril and strife strike on a double front for Honor Harrington and company. After a brutal attack on the Manticoran home system, Honor Harrington and the Star Kingdom she serves battle back against a new, technologically powerful, and utterly nefarious enemy. And as if that weren’t task enough, Honor must also face down a centuries-old nemesis in the crumbling, but still mighty, Solarian League.

The war between the People’s Republic of Haven and the Star Kingdom is finally won and peace established, but grave danger looms - for there is a plan well on its way to completion designed to enslave the entire human species. Behind that plan lies the shadowy organization known as the Mesan Alignment.

Task number one for Honor is to defend against another devastating Mesan strike - a strike that may well spell the doom of the Star Kingdom in one fell blow. It is time to shut down and secure the wormhole network that is the source of the Star Kingdom’s wealth and power - but also its greatest vulnerability. Yet this is an act that the Earth-based Solarian League inevitably will take as a declaration of war.

The thunder of battle rolls as the Solarian League directs its massive power against the Star Kingdom. And once again, Honor Harrington is thrust into a desperate battle that she must win if she is to survive to take the fight to the real enemy of galactic freedom: the insidious puppetmasters of war who lurk behind the Mesan Alignment!

I have enjoyed the entire Honor Harrington series thus far, and "A Rising Thunder" is one of the best books in the series. It mixes just the right amount of battlefield tactics, personal interaction, and global politics to make an engaging story.

If you're a Harrington fan you'll definitely want to listen to this episode; if you haven't heard of Honor Harrington you'd better start at the beginning and enjoy all the episodes in this excelleent series.

this is a long novel, but with excellent narration the story zipped by. I have this novel in hard copy and on Kindle, though I enjoy David Weber's work I do find him a bit long winded at times. the audio version held my attention all the way through & was purely due to the narrators skill, though I did find Honor's voice a higher pitch than I imagined. still thoroughly enjoyed this version.

The first section of this story was one meeting after another. I don't recall even as much action as someone getting up from a chair. Add to that that many of these meetings were of people who don't reappear and I'ld have been happier to have received an extract of the minutes.
Matters did pick up in the second part, but I felt it could almost have stopped there as we moved back to the meetings plus a lengthy section relating to a wedding of two people who hadn't appeared up to now. They may have been in the previous book, which I realised I hadn't read, but it would have been nice to get some back story.
The Honor books will never be great literature, but the earlier stories have a wonderful over the top melodrama which is lacking from this, leaving a husk which attempts to be a future history and fails.

I have enjoyed this series very much especially the earlier books, but this last one gives the very strong impression that the author has run out of steam, there are huge overlaps on the previous book with some parts being verbaitum repeats of previous material. The plot is drawn out and you get the impression of one of those episodes in a sitcom where the writers simply paste together scenes from previous episodes in a "o yes remember when " type format. Much of the dialogue is jaded with phrases that initially sounded novel and interesting in book one now sounding tired, over used and lacking the freshness of the origionals. 3 or 4 hours of waffle and literary padding could easily be edited out without any noticeable difference.

I was a huge fan of the Honnor Harington series. But as the story has gone on Mr Weber has increasingly lost his touch. Now his books are bloated slow and devoid of all the action that made the early books so good. He is not a skilled writer and his dialogue has always been uncomfortable. This did not matter when surrounded by clever fast paced story lines and what he is good at Action! Now his books are all dumb dialogue, slow politics, and flimsy almost comic book protagonists. He needs a good editor to remind him what he,s good at and what he is truly bad at and this book is a truck load of the latter!!!!!!!

Overall, this book is a nice continuation of the story. The story arc allows for an interesting mix of action, politics, and character development. Having said that, the author seems to be developing some annoying habits if you have followed his writing style from book 1.

There is far too much filler material. For example there are long boring sequences where he describes conversations between humans and tree cats, where he describes in detail the tree cat's hand movements as they use sign language. Describing hand and finger position and the motion of the gestures as the tree cat spells a word letter by letter is excruciating. Imaging watching a closed-captioned broadcast with someone speaking in your ear who explains with as much detail as they can, what the person signing is doing. This would test anyone's patience. Normally a translator would simply tell you that the person is signing followed by the translation. Five minute descriptions of hand gestures is massive overkill and I found myself using the fast-forward key frequently, lest I fall asleep.

Ditto the author's annoying tendency to have us attend entire religious services where he takes us through a complete religious service with lengthy scripture readings and pastoral comments, rather than simply giving us the first few lines like any author who wants to keep us engaged would do, followed by a synopsis of what was said so we can get back to the story. Again, making us sit through complete sermons is massive overkill and again, thanks for the fast-forward button. I probably skipped 20-30 minutes of this novel.

Lastly, the author has for the last 2 books picked up the annoying habit of everyone's lip twitching and tightening whenever they are surprised. That never happens to me so I can't relate to it. And since it happens over and over and over, it gets irritating. There are other ways to depict surprise in writing but the author seems to be getting lazy.

I still like the story a lot but each novel seems to move more slowly and there are several bad habits the author is picking up that make me pinch my nose and press on. Since this story is not entirely self-contained and ends abruptly with several important things dangling, I'm sure there will be another soon. I just hope negatives don't get worse or I will probably tune out.

9 of 10 people found this review helpful

Share Faerber

St. Louis, MO, US

10/03/12

Overall

Performance

Story

"love this series, but less politics. more battles"

Would you listen to A Rising Thunder again? Why?

yes. It is part of a memorable series. The author had built an amazingly complete and complicated universe. I would like the story to move a little faster and have more battles. In this book there was only one and it was not detailed. The politics were more important. and they are important to the story, but I wish for less emphasis on the politics. Never the less. I will grab anything in this series or from this author. Great stuff!! most of all I hate the wait for the next installment.

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Rising Thunder?

The treecats make a decision.

Which character ??? as performed by Allyson Johnson ??? was your favorite?

Honor, of course.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I wish it did not ring so true how vulnerable we are to the lies we are told by our leaders.

Any additional comments?

Start at the beginning of the series or you will be lost! but it is well worth the many hours of reading. I love the long books!!!!!

11 of 13 people found this review helpful

Robert L

the USA

31/05/12

Overall

Performance

Story

"An episode of an on-going soap opera, not a novel"

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

No, as the title states Mr. Weber has stopped writing novels and started writing episodes of a soap opera. It's a shame because he has interesting material and he is a very capable writer. I love the early Harrington series, but the later half of the series seems to be a single run-on story rather than several distinct novels.

Which character – as performed by Allyson Johnson – was your favorite?

Ms. Johnson is an excellent narrator. One of the best I've heard in many years of listening to audio books. It would be hard to say what character she does best. They are all excellent.

Any additional comments?

I'm not the only one noticing this problem with Mr. Weber's most recent works. I've seen others make the very same comments. I wish he would take note and get back to writing novels the way he used to. He is not a bad author; he is, in fact, a very good author, but he has slipped into some very bad habits.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

ShySusan

Somewhere in Darkest Utah

08/03/12

Overall

Performance

Story

"I HATE the year-long wait for the next installment"

I've read all the books in the Honor Harrington saga multiple times. Some are better than others. At one point, it seemed like they were getting so incredibly long and so little happened, that I decided to stop reading the series, but at some point I gave in and got the books I had missed and started again, and the series has actually improved again. In the early books, the exciting action was carried mostly by Honor. Now that she is a bigwig, a lot of the better action sequences are carried by other people. But the story is interesting and exciting again. I got this book yesterday and have listened to it almost non-stop. And as it neared its end, I felt like groaning. Two days of intense involvement in the story and then 363 days waiting for the next installment. It's sheer torture.

If you have never read any of the Honor Harrington books, this is not the one to start with. The series should definitely be read in order. The first book is "On Basilisk Station." If you have been a fan of the Honor books, be glad. Weber has produced another worthy entry into the series.

27 of 35 people found this review helpful

Christopher

Brunswick, ME, United States

28/03/12

Overall

Performance

Story

"Almost like a Pre'cis of current events."

The story fit the title. A rising thunder is designed to build up all the causation for the push in the second half of this installment due later this year. The story is actually made up of several short stories interlinked by the main common theme. I liked the quick pace of multiple events happening in succession all over the the galaxy and being interlinked with the "rising" plot. I am salivating for the missile crescendo that will spell the end of Manpower....As For JOHNSON's narration. Ok one Good compliment and one little criticism. The critical first: Johnson had a tendency to confuse scenes a bit in this one. For example: At the end of a certain Board meeting in old Chicago (towards the end of the book) she cuts away to a conversation between a powerful Male and Female character without a breath, it was a little disorienting. On the bright side, People have been hating on Johnson for her changing of the pronunciation of Manticorian. She used to say Man-Tic -or-n. BUT she has grown as a narrator and now pronounces it Manticorian, which is the correct phoneme structure. The old way was 4 distinct Morphemes while the proper (new say she says it) is only 3. Proper pronunciation is defined "Communicating a words intent using the least morphemic units" SO major kudos to Johnson for this. THIS IS NOT for the first time Weber reader, it would be like trying to read Lord of the rings and getting irritated because you choose to start in the last half of the third book. Overall I enjoyed it for its purpose; to build up for the coming storm and it was needed synopsis for the major events enveloping every major and most of the minor star nations in the series.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Andrew

ALLEN, TX, United States

15/03/12

Overall

Performance

Story

"Good"

The performance is better in this one. I think she's getting better. I enjoy the story. The thriller/intrigue elements are interesting. One thing, it's "delta vee" not "delta five", as in change in velocity. Not a big one, but it does shatter the suspension of disbelief.

9 of 12 people found this review helpful

James

Shawnee, Ok, United States

23/03/12

Overall

Performance

Story

"Good, But not for a first time Harrington Listener"

This was like the start of a new series for me. I Love the harrington series so this was ok for me. But a new listener should start out with On Basilisk Station and go thru the series. In this one, It felt to me like the battles were good but more background than the usual core of the book. It was even more heavily invested in statistics and setting the story than usual. Having said that, it held my attention throughout and I will get the next one.

6 of 8 people found this review helpful

Sean

Norfolk, VA, United States

12/03/12

Overall

Performance

Story

"Great book for fans of the series"

Any additional comments?

This book is primarily seting up the series for a new set of books. It actually starts prior to the end of the previous book in order to give aditional background information to frame the New struggle about to envelope the varius star nations.

The war is over, and from the ashes of this war the "NEW ALLIANCE" is born.The alliance of two enemies who now understand that they became enemies not by their own Will. Now they finally understand that for more than Twenty years they were puppets of the third party, party who wanted to destroy them both all along. And now one more Puppet of the same master is used to Finish them. But perhaps this NEW ALLIANCE has some friends it doesn't even know about.

"EW" gets a new meaning.Previously "EW" Electronic Warfare but now it's time for Economical Warfare!!!

PS It's been taking a bit longer than expected to complete this book , originally it supposed to be around 1200 pages long, but publisher decided to cut it in two, and publish them separately. This book is around 440 pages long and the next one is 610.

NEXT BOOK IS "SHADOWS OF FREEDOM" Expected publication march 5th 2013

12 of 17 people found this review helpful

Brian

Falls City, OR, USA

19/07/12

Overall

Performance

Story

"A Fabulous Series!!"

Would you listen to A Rising Thunder again? Why?

The story, performance and how they work so well together is an outstanding piece of listening pleasure. In fact, I DID listen to the entire Honor Harrington series leading up to this one, just to get refreshed on the the story. Honor's story line is well thought out, and continues to expand to the point some people found it trying or boring. Not in the least, if you want to delve into a whole new world, that is painstakingly crafted, then listen in sequence to all the books (including the Saganimi and Torch side series) as they ALL tie together into a large, vast universe.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Hard to decide, Honor has strength of character, almost to the point of a flaw, but adapts rapidly to whatever changes in her environment, Mike Henke is a good, solid friend, but has the same abilities as Honor, just tested in a different fire. Albrecht Detweiler and his sons are just out to save their collective butts and you have to appreciate their ability to keep the Mesan Alignment going. Weber's characters all have flaws, and strengths, and it makes it very hard to pick "the one".

What does Allyson Johnson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Allyson Johnson makes the audio books a treasure. Her perfect pitch and voice changes make you wonder how many people they actually had record this thing. I am still not sure if she does all the characters or what, if she does, she should get an Audible Oscar.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I had the time, I would, but I listen going to and from work (1.5 hrs each way, 3-4 days a week), and I want to stretch them out endlessly if possible.

Any additional comments?

A great book in a great series. If you want to comprehend it all, start with book 1 (On Basilisk Station) and follow through with all of them. You will not be disappointed if you like science fiction, military, or just good story telling.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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